Timesurfers (21 page)

His devilish smile made her grin. There was a
lot to like about Jonah. “I can’t take it.” She held the bracelet
toward him.

“Live with it for a while and see how it
feels.” He called Mortez, and melted from view. The thud of a car
door startled her. She slipped the bracelet into her back pocket as
her mother strode across the grass.

“Happy Birthday, my gorgeous girl.” Her mum
hugged her bone crushingly hard for such a tiny person. If she was
surprised at Cate’s shirt, she didn’t show it. “Pop inside and send
those boys out. I’m none too pleased with their
behaviour
.”

Cate had been sharing her life for the last
five years with the boys completely oblivious to them being
Timesurfers. Was it safe for her mum and Xavier to have them
here?

Chapter 16

Family Ties

“M
um wants you guys outside.” The boys sidled around
her, careful to maintain a safe distance. “She’s furious.”

Gaspar scratched his head and crinkled his
nose. “You compelled us. That should be impossible, but you did
it...freaky...but wicked.”

Her ability to compel other Timesurfers was
quite the big deal. “If you’re all Timesurfers, why have I never
seen your QIs?”

Mel lifted his sleeve to reveal an arm
without QIs. “It’s a glamour. Clear your mind and concentrate on
scraping a layer of dirt off my skin.”

The QIs on his arm suddenly became visible.
They ended on the number 2014, so they weren’t from the future.

“I’m waiting!” her mother hollered from
outside.

The boys hustled out to the front yard. Their
reaction confirmed the fierce power her mother wielded over all the
juvenile delinquents at the detention centre. She was ninety-five
percent badass. Maybe she would be a good match for the evil
Mortez.

Cate hurried to observe the boys with her
mother through the open kitchen window, ready to compel the boys if
necessary. She eased Jonah’s gift from her pocket and clipped the
glittering green strands around her wrist. Austin had suggested the
boys were brothers. Maybe they were. She searched for some kind of
family resemblance.

Gaspar had tight scarlet curls. Balthazar’s
brown hair was brutally short, so there was no way of telling if it
was curly or straight, and Melchior’s shaggy blonde hair curled
around his collar and ears, but that was just because it needed a
wash. The three boys did have kind of similar noses. Austin looked
more like Balthazar and Melchior’s brother than Gaspar.

Melchior and Gaspar slunk around the side of
the house, assigned garden duty all day. It was one of her mother’s
favourite
punishments.
Balthazar and her mum remained on the front lawn, their heads
close. With a glance her way, Balthazar headed after the other
boys.

“Cate?” her mum called from the front
door.

“In here.”

“How was ballooning?”

“Um...enlightening.”

Her mum sent her a quizzical look. “Did Eve
enjoy it? Is that one of her shirts?”

That wasn’t going to be easy to answer
without telling a flat out lie. “What did the boys do?” She
countered a question with a question.

“They were street fighting like common thugs.
Someone called the detention centre about it. The boys are lucky
they didn’t call the police.” Her mother’s fingernail tapped a
tinny, metallic tune on the sink.

“Who were they fighting?” She held her
breath.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. They
shouldn’t be fighting at all,” her mother replied. “Did you see
anything?”

This could go two ways. Either her mother had
no idea she was involved in the confrontation, or she knew, and was
dishing out just enough rope for Cate to hang herself. “The boys
were on the porch when I arrived back.” Technically, that was the
complete truth. The strands of emeralds wrapped around her wrist
threw rainbows on the sink as the sun bounced off them.

“Is that your birthday present from Eve?” Her
mother moved closer to inspect the bracelet. “She’s such a
thoughtful young girl. The green brings out the colour of your
eyes. You always look lovely in green.”

“Thanks.” She extracted her wrist from her
mother’s grasp. “I might give Eve a call and see if she wants to
watch the boys do their penance.”

“You just left Eve. I doubt she’s even made
it home.”

Cate was desperate for a few minutes to
herself. Her brain whirred and then like a stubborn child sat on
the ground, cross-legged, and refused to work. “I have some girl
stuff to talk to her about.”

“Girl stuff?” The disbelief written across
her mother’s face wasn’t unexpected. Cate didn’t do girl talk.
Ever.

“Not
my
girl stuff,”
she ploughed on with her story. One day she would learn to get
while the getting was good. “Eve’s girl stuff. She’s working on
asking someone out.”

Her mother’s eyebrows disappeared under her
perfectly geometrical black fringe. “If you tell me you’re going to
braid each other’s hair, I’m calling the doctor.”

“Funny.” She rolled her eyes and strolled
toward the door, swinging her arms extra hard to appear
nonchalant.

“How are you coping after parting ways with
Zach? Are there any perspective boyfriends that I should know
about?”

“He traded up to a cheerleader and dumped me
by text. But it’s fine. I’m fine.” No one had ever died of
embarrassment and bruised pride as far as she knew. “I’ll let you
know on the boyfriend thing. I have a few things in play.”

“Well, let me know if you want me to send
someone around and have Zach beaten to a pulp. I could also have
him murdered, discreetly of course.” Her mum’s eyes sparkled. “I’ve
at least two experienced killers on speed dial. It would completely
look like an accident.”

“Good to know, but I’ll pass.” Her mum would
never actually do that, but it was funny she asked. “Thanks for
caring.”

Her mum shrugged. “The offer’s there. Eve’s
new
friend
, do I know her?”

“Nope.”

“But it is a
‘her’
?”

Shit.
Her mum’s
sneaky streak had caught her again. “Yes, it’s a ‘her.’”

“Turn and look at me. So there’s no
misunderstanding, I’ll say this without any frills.” Her mother
took a few seconds to formulate her next sentence. “Whether you
choose to share your intimate moments with a boy, a girl, or a
mixture of both makes no difference to how much I love you.”

Cate dropped her eyes and fidgeted with her
hair. This was even more uncomfortable than having the sex talk.
“I’m not gay or bisexual.”

“Regardless, if you were ever to decide you
were—”

“Look, good to know, but I’m very straight.”
The fact her mum had sworn off men flittered across her mind. “Not
that there’s anything wrong with being gay, and I would love you
the same if
you
were.” This was fast
turning into the most awkward exchange ever.

Her mum chuckled. “I’m not trying to tell you
I’m gay. I have many secrets, but that’s not one of them. I thought
maybe
you
were Eve’s new girlfriend.”

Cate gave a nervous laugh as relief shimmied
down her spine.

“What about Jonah for you? He seemed quite
the gentleman and a hot, sexy badass to boot!”

“MUM!” She signalled her mother to stop.
“You’re old—that’s...icky. This conversation is flat out
disturbing.”

“Look who I’m with each day. I could teach
you a few new words. I’m just saying Jonah seems to kick Zach’s
butt on all fronts.”

“But, Mum,” she said with mock indignation.
“He might be a terrible person under all that gorgeousness and
those manners.”

“I’m pretty sure ‘gorgeousness’ is not a
word. He also
needs
those impeccable
manners to balance out his hard-core bad boy thing which makes your
knees go weak and whips those hormones into a frenzy.”

“Eeew...Mum!”

“If he
is
a terrible
person, you can throw him back. There’s plenty more fish in the
sea. If he’s terrible to
you
, the
consequences will be severe.” Her mother’s matter-of-fact smile
belied the underlying threat. “Now go and do whatever you need to
with Eve. She’s welcome to come to dinner tonight and bring her new
friend. Two is such a small number for a birthday celebration.”

Cate froze. Why would there only be two of
them? What about Xavier?

“Your brother loved birthday celebrations.
The balloons were always his favourite. It took a week for him to
come off the sugar high from all the candy. I miss him more on
special occasions.”

The sadness in her mother’s voice made Cate’s
gut twist. Her mum not signing Xavier’s name on the birthday card
this morning made sense now. This was an alternate time line, like
when she woke up to a redecorated house and to Eve as head girl. In
this alternate time line her brother was gone. Tears burned behind
her eyes.

Her mother rushed forward and hugged her
tight. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. My head says five years is a long
time for him to be missing, but my heart tells me it can still feel
him. I won’t lose hope. No one can just leave the house and
disappear without a trace. Someone out there knows something. We
must keep looking and stay positive.”

Each time Cate thought Xavier’s name, a
sliver shaved from her heart, leaving an angrier and more painful
graze. She took a few deep breaths, willing herself to be calm.

“No more tears today. Go! Go!” Her mum shooed
Cate from the kitchen.

She forced herself to make slow, deliberate
steps upstairs. When she reached Xavier’s bedroom door, she
hesitated and then peeked in. It was like she had stepped back in
time. The pictures and toys from when they first moved here still
decorated the room. It hadn’t been updated since. It was also too
tidy for Xavier, and there was a thin layer of dust on most
surfaces. A pile of flyers on a chair with a photo of a smiling
Xavier caught her attention. He looked so young. She read the
flyer.

Have you seen this boy?

He went missing from Tempus
Falls

On Monday 17th of January
2009.

Last seen on Angove St at approx
8:05 a.m. with a tall

teenaged male with dark
hair.

Her mother’s number was on the bottom of the
flyer. Xavier had gone missing on her birthday five years ago.

She rushed to the sanctuary of her room and
crumpled on the bed. An invisible weight crushed her chest and she
struggled to breathe. Pain seared through her heart as she stole a
shallow gasp of air. The pain became more ferocious with each gasp.
Grief drained the colour from the walls and furniture in her room
until it resembled a battered sepia photograph. She closed her
eyes, and the bright sparks of colour her anguish had stolen from
the room pierced her eyelids like a shower of hot needles.

Tears dripped down her cheeks. She buried her
head in the pillow and screamed. Her tears were replaced by
colossal sobs that threatened to smash her ribs. The Timesurfers
had done this.
Yesterday
someone had gone
back to 2009 and taken Xavier. She knew this because she saw the
change today after the midnight reset. If a normal person had
actually taken Xavier in 2009 she would have woken up back then and
discovered he was gone. This was an altered time line created in
the last twenty-four hours. Xavier was gone, and it was all her
fault. As her tears ebbed and her sobs subsided, a fierce
determination sparked. She would make this right.

***

“Do you think Cate knows yet?” Zach shot balled up
paper into the sink overflowing with a week of dirty dishes.
“Score! That’s ten for ten.” He punched his fists in the air. “I’m
so much more coordinated now.”

This week was proving brutal. There was only
one way for Jonah to be free of Mortez, and it was something he
could never ask Catherine to be part of. It was also something she
would never forgive him for. So that would be
three
things she would never forgive him for if she
found out. He banged his fists on the table.

“You’ve been prowling in and out all night.
Shouldn’t you be ready for a nap?”

Jonah’s head ached and his stomach churned.
Cate would be devastated about losing Xavier. He had hoped he
convinced the current Mortez to change her mind. He checked with
Balthazar this morning who had confirmed the midnight reset showed
Xavier had still been taken.

Zach tilted his head to the side. “Can you
hear that? It’s like a loud thud. Over and over.”

Jonah scratched his head.

“Do that again,” Zach said through gritted
teeth.

“Do
what
again?”

“Scratch your head.”

Jonah scratched his head, and Zach
grimaced.

“Dude, I think my head’s going to explode,”
Zach whispered.

In nearly a century and a half, Jonah had
seen plenty of people get blown up, but never someone’s head
explode. “I find that—”

“Too loud, man. I can hear claps of thunder
now.” Zach’s voice was barely audible, and his hands were pressed
over his ears.

Jonah’s eyes rested on the kitchen tap. He
looked from the dripping tap to Zach, who winced each time a water
droplet hit the sink. Jonah grabbed Zach’s arm. He could just make
out the numbers two and zero beginning to show in blue ink. Zach
was getting his first quantum indicator and coming into his powers.
He pointed at the numbers on Zach’s arm and scribbled a note.

Your first quantum
indicator is coming through, so

your power is kicking in.
It looks like super sensory hearing.

Brace yourself for a major
headache.